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Being of Service to the Community

Unlike other colleges in UP Diliman who engage their students in physical training or outreach activities and immersions, our school’s National Service Training Program for the first semester is simply composed of lectures and engaging discussions on different topics revolving around a central theme which is being of service to the nation.

Each and every single one of us are called to serve the community after we graduate. Some of us are even lucky enough to be given opportunities to serve the community as early as now through granted positions in the Student Council, organization’s Executive Committees, or other paid or non-paid work that strive to make community operations better and more systemized. Perhaps most of us just follow and do what is instructed of us, but not having any leadership roles or positions do not necessarily mean we don’t have as much heart to serve as the others do. Actually the truth is, holding certain positions is just like owning a material possession– it’s merely proof of your authority but it doesn’t prove anything about you or what you can do as an individual. It should not be used to measure one’s capability and neither should it make other people without any position think that their presence is useless or they are unheard in the community. It shouldn’t also be an excuse for the others to slack off and leave all the work to their leader.

Having a position is simply being given a responsibility to lead people and hopefully, formulate and execute plans that would lead to the advancement and progression of the community you’re leading. Few leaders nowadays realize the importance of this responsibility. A lot are just concerned about how they would appear as a leader or if they’ve done enough to prove that they deserve to be in such positions. Although it’s also important to keep your reputation in mind and prove what you can do for the community, acquiring this sense of responsibility is still the most important thing to consider. It all boils down to the purpose of why you’re serving the community. Is it for your own good or advantage? Or is it really the desire to make other people’s lives better and to serve them that’s driving you to do so?

Lastly, it is essential that we know how to differentiate having the desire to serve from having the passion and the heart to. Desiring to serve is not enough because everyone desires to serve at one point. Being of service requires the heart not only because it sets your purpose of serving correctly, but also because when your mind takes control of what’s needed to be done, your heart would remind you about the right thing to be done. It would remind you of your strengths and capabilities as well as your boundaries, limits, and weaknesses. It will keep you going when serving gets tough because you start to do it for love and not merely for work or your responsibility’s sake. For me, it’s definitely more admirable when a person is humble enough to accept that he cannot do everything even though he wants to simply because it’s not worth compromising the community. You don’t necessarily have to hold a position to be of great service to the community, you can simply do it as long you have the heart to. It’s not as easy as it may seem. Service is sacrificing your personal needs to accommodate other people’s needs first. Service is a commitment to the community – it requires you to give a big chunk of yourself, your time, and your efforts without expecting absolutely anything in return. The sense of fulfillment you get after a sincere act of service is honestly more than the rewarding than anything you could even ask for.